


The End

by Nebulad



Series: Mien'harel [17]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Angst, F/M, M/M, Modern AU, Other, Violence, roadtrip au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 00:44:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7663636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nebulad/pseuds/Nebulad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Stop,” they spat out before they could… think about it. The urge to clamp their hand over their mouth as Taliesen turned towards them was just barely beaten out by their urge to shoot him, so they kept the guns up.</p><p>“What was that, sweetheart?” the Crow asked with a snort. Zevran looked <i>terrified</i>.</p><p>“S…. St… S…” They couldn’t spit the <i>fucking</i> word back out and he was coming towards them and they couldn’t pull the trigger for some reason, their hands were as stiff as their voice and <i>fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck—</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	The End

Gahruil had both guns trained to the Crow that was with Taliesen— blonde like Zevran, a _shem_ like himself— but the dangerous effect they were going for was ruined by how badly their hands were shaking. Zev had warned them from the start that there was a chance that the Crows would catch up with the group before Antiva, but this was… this was a fucking mess. The rest of the group was chasing a different lead that had seemed more important than _a gang in a warehouse I’ll give you two sovs to run them out._

It was a fucking trap and Zevran and Tabris— Tabris who’d never fucking shot a gun in their life and Zevran who’d been trying and failing to teach them— were trapped together. To just add to this goddamn nightmare, Zevran looked like he’d been punched in the gut shortly before this. The arrival of Taliesen, looking cool and calm and dead behind the goddamn eyes in a stylish black suit, had yanked the goddamn sails off his boat.

“Zev,” he said, and it was… kind of the way Gahruil would hope _they’d_ sound if they said his name. It was soft and gentle and for all the world like this stupid fuck had missed him.

“Taliesen.” The elf seemed much less affected, although there was still that look on his face. In fairness, Zevran probably wasn’t the sort to drop a full name on a lover, so it was probably pretty devastating for the _shem…_ assuming he still had the capacity to feel things.

“Who’s your friend?” The fucker hadn’t even drawn his gun yet and it was driving Gahruil up the wall. _Just pull the gun just start the fight just do something, shoot shoot shoot, don’t stand there and make small talk._ “I mean, I know all about them of course, but it really is polite.”

Gahruil’s jaw felt welded together and they weren’t going to lower their weapons. Luckily, Zevran clearly wasn’t expecting them to speak for themself. “We needn’t waste time. Are you here to kill me?” _Maker_ his voice sounded ugly, like there was nothing left of him: autopilot trying to figure out what exactly he sounded like and missing the mark entirely.

“No, and if you’ll put away your guns for a moment we can discuss your options.” To Tabris’ absolute fucking _horror,_ Zevran holstered his guns without another word and Taliesen actually fucking started _walking_ towards him. _Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck—_ they turned their weapons towards the _shem_ and away from the lackey.

“Stop,” they spat out before they could… think about it. The urge to clamp their hand over their mouth as Taliesen turned towards them was just barely beaten out by their urge to shoot him, so they kept the guns up.

“What was that, sweetheart?” the Crow asked with a snort. Zevran looked _terrified._

“S…. St… S…” They couldn’t spit the _fucking_ word back out and he was coming towards them and they couldn’t pull the trigger for some reason, their hands were as stiff as their voice and _fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck—_

“Taliesen,” Zevran snapped, and the _shem’s_ focus broke. He turned back to his target and Gahruil _felt_ rather than _saw_ the lackey focus her guns on them. “If we could stay on track here for a moment?” he asked impatiently, and the _shem_ gestured backwards at Tabris.

“Get your friend to put the guns away,” he ordered, and Zevran made eye contact with them. They shook their head, and he pushed past Taliesen _(gently, gently, barely touching him like it would burn if he did)_ to end up beside them.

“Put them away, _cariño,”_ he murmured, putting his hands on their rigid wrists. They shook their head again, not breaking eye contact with Taliesen who was grinning at them. _Look what I can do, he’ll do whatever I say even after all this time, where does that put_ you? “I do not want this to end in bloodshed if we can avoid it— I know this is a foolish thing for me to ask you, but _please._ Trust me.”

Their eyes fluttered over to his and… they nodded. Slowly, they let him holster their guns, clenching their fists at their side. They still couldn’t speak— their hands itched for the pistols and their voice felt like a physical object lodged in their throat, probably covered in spikes or some shit… but he could read them anyway.

Letting him just walk away, back to Taliesen, required physical _restraint._ On the bright side, the lackey had put her guns away and was back to pretending to be casual.

“I won’t pretend like I haven’t hurt you,” the _shem_ fuck murmured, reaching out for Zevran. Their partner allowed it, letting him wind his fingers through his honey blonde hair. “Because I did. I thought that all I had to do was protect you until you could grieve, but I wasn’t paying enough attention to how you were coping.”

“Why are you here, Taliesen?” Gahruil wanted to break his stupid hands to get him to quit… touching. _Stop stop stop stop stop_ caught in their throat… again. Still.

“Maybe I should be upfront. I _miss_ you Zev, like someone’s stolen an arm from me. Just come home and we’ll make up a story— the Masters trust me, we can start over again,” he breathed. Zevran didn’t move, but he was no longer holding himself like a rock.

“And what of my companion?” he asked shortly.

“You know what sort of shit the kid pulled in Orzammar, Zevran. We’ve had to hold an auction for the right to put out a contract on them,” he said, running his fingers idly against Zev’s ear. “People don’t like a runt with that much power.”

“So you want me to kill them?” he asked flatly. _Trust him trust him trust him don’t touch the gun he said not to, don’t touch the gun until you have to._ Gahruil’s breathing felt funny and irregular, but they stayed still.

“You don’t have to. I’ll take care of it and we can tell the Masters that it was you— help buy their good graces,” he hummed. “We’re going to need to do a lot of that, sucking up. Bunch of heartless bastards, they are, but we can do it.”

Zevran was so quiet that for a second the only sound in the entire warehouse was Gahruil’s rasping breath. They hadn’t noticed themself begin to panic, but were suddenly feeling lightheaded— worse, when Zevran took Taliesen’s hand. “Do you trust me?” he asked.

“Of course I do.” Their partner nodded, then turned and began walking towards them.

They might have been crying, which would’ve been embarrassing. They still couldn’t move their stupid idiot hands so even when he drew his gun and pressed it against their stomach, they simply… stood. Waited, waited for it to be over and wondered when they’d started thinking that following an assassin across the continent was something that was gunna end well. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Tabris,” he murmured.

“Pl… p… pl…” They couldn’t _talk._ They couldn’t even _beg._

“Hush. I’m not going to shoot you, _cariño,_ but you have to listen to me and be quick. When I tell you, you have to turn and shoot the Crow behind you. I will take care of Taliesen but I need you to do this for me.” The gun at their gut was making it hard to think, but… maybe they were pathetic. Maybe they just really, really wanted to believe that Zevran wouldn’t hurt them after all this time together and all the nice stuff he whispered to them.

They nodded.

“On three, Tabris. One… two…”

They turned and fired. Another shot rang out behind them but they were… a little distracted. They emptied everything they had into that very, very dead body, surprised that they’d managed to hit at all. Blood was pooling up underneath the corpse, Zevran was still against their back, and _neither_ of them were bleeding. Their pistols stopped firing anything so they dropped them because _holy shit._ They swooned a little because _holy shit_ and their head hurt and they’d just killed a person.

“Did you think I was going to shoot you?” Zevran asked, his voice a forced casual. They didn’t answer, crouching low and trying not to throw up and trying to keep all the pieces of themself together into one coherent person. “How are you, _amigo?”_

 _Sorry,_ they managed clumsily, almost punching themself in the chest.

“For what?” He rocked them backwards to sit against his chest, stroking their hair is a way they found weirdly soothing. They turned, almost knocking him over but switching their position so they were chest to chest. They meant to try and say something else, or just… reassure him that maybe it would pass and they’d be okay after it was all over because it was either the Crow or them and they really didn’t want to die…

But they saw Taliesen slumped there, a bullet clean between his eyes and a trickle of blood sliding down his nose. A professional shot, and the first that they’d ever seen Zev take. They remembered him telling them about painless deaths— best not to draw it out, as they were professionals and not barbarians— and felt sort of sicker than they’d started.

“Sorry,” they whispered against his throat with ugly tears suddenly sliding around their face, and this time he didn’t respond.

**Author's Note:**

> this is day two, and I suppose I should actually tell yall what the prompts are. Yesterday was "first impressions", today was "AU day" so here's my roadtrip modern AU (go ahead and look for "A Little Crime" to see the less angsty side of it). [My writing blog is here](http://nebulaad.tumblr.com), hooray.


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